Sinn v. Lemmon

911 F.3d 412
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedDecember 14, 2018
DocketNo. 18-1724
StatusPublished
Cited by196 cases

This text of 911 F.3d 412 (Sinn v. Lemmon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sinn v. Lemmon, 911 F.3d 412 (7th Cir. 2018).

Opinion

Flaum, Circuit Judge.

*415Plaintiff-appellant Dylan Sinn was incarcerated within the Indiana Department of Corrections ("IDOC") from June 2011 to February 2015. In 2014, while an inmate at Putnamville Correctional Facility ("Putnamville"), he suffered injuries from two separate assaults by other inmates. Sinn filed this lawsuit pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against defendants-appellees, various prison officials, alleging deliberate indifference in violation of the Eighth Amendment. Sinn appeals the district court's decision to grant judgment on the pleadings as to Putnamville Sergeant Scott Rodgers1 and Putnamville Correctional Officer Paul Hoskins, as well as the district court's decision to grant summary judgment as to John Brush, former Putnamville Unit Manager, Stanley Knight, former Putnamville Superintendent, and Bruce Lemmon, former IDOC Commissioner. We affirm the judgments of the district court in all respects except one: we reverse and remand the district court's grant of summary judgment as to Brush.

I. Background

A. Factual Background2

Sinn suffered two attacks by fellow inmates during his incarceration at Putnamville. The IDOC had transferred Sinn to the facility in 2014 after his good behavior made him eligible for a lower security level. His initial placement was an open dorm in 17 South. After moving through several other dorms, Sinn moved to 11 South in April 2014.

While imprisoned at these various dorms, Sinn witnessed daily fights between other inmates, and he noticed that guards were rarely present when fights began. The record shows that Putnamville struggled to deal with overcrowding of inmates and understaffing of guards. The facility was designed for 1,650 inmates, but it had a recorded average daily population of 2,490 state prisoners in 2013. Putnamville was also unable to fill correctional officer vacancies in a timely manner; in April 2014, there were 27 vacancies at the facility out of 350 positions. Additionally, at his deposition, Sinn said he rarely saw more than one guard at any of the dorms, except maybe once or twice a week.

Sinn felt affected by gang activity as soon as he arrived at Putnamville, but he did not report any threats until his April 2014 assaults. Sinn acknowledges that he received information from the IDOC encouraging inmates to report illegal activity, including "security threat groups" (i.e. gangs).

The first attack on Sinn occurred on April 24, 2014, and it was partially captured on video. Several inmates stole Sinn's property box and hauled it into the bathroom to divvy up the contents. When Sinn realized what happened, he ran into the bathroom to retrieve the box, at which point several inmates attacked him by grabbing him from behind, restraining his arms, and punching him in the face several *416times.3 Sinn only sustained minor injuries: he "split [his] hand," "had some scrapes," and "[m]aybe [had] a busted lip or something." No guards were present at the time of the attack. After the attack, though, Correctional Officer Paul Hoskins and Sergeant Scott Rodgers arrived. They handcuffed Sinn and the two other inmates who had been attacked, took them to a back office for questioning, and reviewed the surveillance footage.

At his deposition, Sinn said he was "pretty sure" the inmates who attacked him were members of the "Vice Lords" gang, "or real good friends of them," in part because Hoskins told Sinn the attackers were Vice Lords. Sinn believed he was targeted because he was an "unaffiliated[ ] [w]hite, clean-cut, tall, nerdy guy with glasses." He believed an inmate "become[s] a pretty easy target when [he's] unaffiliated."

After reviewing the surveillance footage, Rodgers and Hoskins decided to move Sinn and the other two inmates to new dormitories; they transferred Sinn to 18 South. Sinn complained to Rodgers and Hoskins that they were not moving the attackers, and he told them that he was still concerned for his safety because "this isn't going to stop. This is going to escalate." In response, Sinn says Rodgers and Hoskins told him to talk to his counselor.

Within a few hours of arriving at 18 South, Sinn said he "was met by other gang members of the same gang letting me know that it wasn't over yet; that they were going to get me when [the] time came and when they saw fit." He did not report those threats. Instead, when he went to breakfast the next morning, April 25, he talked to Unit Manager John Brush about what had happened. Sinn had interacted with Brush before this incident and trusted him, in part because Brush had facilitated a relocation request for Sinn in the past and in part because Sinn felt Brush genuinely cared about his wellbeing.

Brush already knew about the first attack when they met that morning, according to Sinn, and he asked Sinn how he was doing. Sinn told Brush his concerns; specifically, he testified that he told Brush, "I know I'm going to get it again here soon. I'm going to be back in trouble, you know." Sinn did not tell Brush the specific names of any people he was concerned might attack him because he did not know any of their names at that point. He did tell Brush that he wanted to be moved to a different dorm. Brush told Sinn to send him a written request and he would "look over it as soon as he [could]."4

Per these directions, Sinn wrote Brush a letter dated April 26, 2014, describing his concerns. In this letter, Sinn does not use the specific words "gangs" or "Vice Lords"

*417but focuses on the racial difference between the attackers (who were all black) and those attacked on April 24 (who were all white):

On 4-24-14 @ approx 5:30 pm in 11 South I was jumped and robbed for all my property.
...
I was pulled out by officers and taken to medical to be inspected. Following the incident I was moved to another dorm.
Officers stated to me that they saw who was involved and who robbed my property. They said the camera clearly showed it. Yet no actions were taken due to inconvenience of time and housing overcrowdedness.
In the day that followed this incident the other two white people moved with me were assulted [sic] again and jumped. Further showing that the incident followed them to the new dorms. I have yet to be assulted [sic] again. But I know it's coming.
...
These black inmates had the wide open ability to have the other two people besides myself jumped less than 24 hrs after the incident, and custody again took no action.
When I am moved from 18 South to BMU or another idle unit I will be subjected to these assults [sic]. Assults [sic] I know through experience that won't be caught or addressed with proper attention.
I will not let myself be put in that vulnerable situation. I'm not affaliated [sic].

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Bluebook (online)
911 F.3d 412, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sinn-v-lemmon-ca7-2018.